To REALLY undermine Palin, flip the REFORMER narrative, tie to Bush

[alcibiades_mystery]

You're all missing the point. The real narrative that has power is that she is a "reformer," based on her stint on some Alaskan ethics committee. She filed charges against important Republicans and fought earmarks. That's her cred over and above the identity politics bit, which is a wash. It is McCain's only hope to untie himself from Bush: we have a Republican who is 1) conservative and 2) not afraid to challenge Republicans. This is the one two punch meant to hold conservatives while suckering some independents. Period. That's it. So, how do you counter it? Easy: tie the "reformer" rhetoric back to Bush's 2000 campaign rhetoric, "reformer with results." Example:

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We're told that Governor Palin is a reformer, and that she gets results. Where have we heard that before? In 2000 another Republican governor ran as a "reformer with results." Who was that? George W. Bush. So, what did the "reformer with results" bring to Washington?A Vice presidential chief of staff convicted of perjury and obstruction of Justice. When the reformer with results heard about that, he reformed himself a sentence nullification. Good result for the convicted felon, I guess. Not so good for the country. What other "reforms" has the "reformer with results brought to Washington? He reformed the Justice department, alright. He stocked it with political apparatchiks running politically motivated prosecutions and dismissing qualified civil servants based on illegal political tests. That was a heckuva reform! He reformed the EPA so that it wouldn't actually have to protect the environment. That was a result that worked for the oil companies, but not so great for America. He reformed NASA so that political hacks were passing muster on scientific studies; he reformed the SEC so that the fox was guarding the henhouse. Oh, there was a lot of reform under the reformer with results.
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You have to make the word "reform" stink of Bushism; that's how you get thaqt stank on Palin, and tie the whole operation to Bush.